Belton, Texas – On Wednesday, September 18, Tiffany Horton, Director of Global Outreach for the University of Mary-Hardin-Baylor, led chapel services. She discussed the fears that keep people from taking part in Christian missions, the impact such trips can have on participants, and the opportunities available for UMHB students to get involved.
Horton recalled the fear and reluctance she felt about serving on her first overseas mission trip. She was certain that there were other students and Christians who were better suited to go, but God worked through relationships in her life to convince her that she was enough.
After serving on her first mission trip, Horton was hooked. She fell in love with the people she was serving, and her heart was turned towards sharing the Gospel.
Horton recalled one trip in particular, when she was visiting a region for the second time after a year away. She and a partner were traveling door to door, and person after person welcomed her and shared ways that their lives had changed over the previous 12 months. A year earlier, Horton had prayed for one woman struggling with infertility, and now she had a child.
“Who is the God of this woman,” Horton remembers the woman asking.
Likewise, Horton visited families for whom she had prayed for physical healing or romantic connections. Again and again, these people shared ways those prayers had been answered. Again and again, they asked about her God.
Horton challenged the audience to see themselves as perfectly prepared to serve a specific population.
“God has specifically designed you to be someone else’s hope,” Horton said.
Horton said that the university would be organizing roughly a dozen international mission trips this year. She encouraged students to attend an interest meeting to get connected to each of those opportunities.
